The Cake Says, You’re a Genius

Sherman Alexie was eating fried chicken in Garfield Park with Stranger editor Christopher Frizzelle when he noticed three people heading their way. Later he said that he tried to divert them with an ice vibe, imagining they planned interrupt his lunch to praise him.

They were, but in a more concrete way than he envisioned. Onto his table they thrust a cake that bore a candy-colored compliment: “You’re a Genius.”

Winners of the 2008 Stranger Genius Awards are, besides Alexie for writing, Wynne Greenwood for visual art, playwright Paul Mullin for theater, Lynn Shelton for film and Implied Violence for an institution. Each gets $5,000 and a party thrown in his, her or its honor Sept. 13 at the Moore Theatre.

Stranger book editor Paul Constant called Alexie’s award the “most obvious Genius Award in the history of the Genius Awards.” The Stranger waited till its sixth year of passing them out to give him one, mainly because, Frizzelle said, Alexie occasionally writes for the paper and it might seem as if the Stranger were giving the award to itself.

Not to worry, said Alexie: “I do it contemptuously.” (Stranger cover story this week is Alexie’s “Sixty One Things I Learned During the Sonics Trial,” here.)

Ryan Mitchell and Mandie O’Connell of Implied Violence were cleaning costumes in a Lake Union parking lot when the cake patrol pulled up. Because some of the costumes were fragile or had labels that advised drycleaning, the pair took the extra careful step of spreading them out on a tarp, saturating them in biodegradable soap and washing it off with a garden hose. The finished works were then hung on a chain-link fence to dry.

Cake in hand, they did a little dance and added a whoop. O’Connell said they were minutes ago talking about whether they could afford to rent a piano for their show, titled “Versus” and running Aug. 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. (For show details, go here.) Mitchell planned to use the cake to boost his status in his family. “I will be showing it to my mom.”

Mullin’s cake found him at a genetics research firm, where he says he’s a glorified secretary. He reacted with stunned silence to the news of his win, followed by a shy smile and talk of taking his wife to Italy.

Wynne Greenwood (Traci + The Plastics) planned to share her cake with her students in a summer arts program. The meaning of the cake needed to be explained to her, as she envisioned it was for her birthday, recently passed. When told she’d be getting $5,000, too, she said, “Now I can make art again.”

Below, Traci + The Plastics on YouTube, posted by Wynne Greenwood.

Lynn Shelton (“We Go Way Back” and “My Effortless Brilliance”) was also planning to plow the $5,000 into her work. Everybody said thanks, big time.